Chapter 1: Entry and a Lineup of Gods
Su Xiao looked at the prompt before him, his eyes thoughtful. He had originally thought that high-risk worlds were those leaning towards a bizarre and eerie style, but it seemed that wasn't the case now.
However, from any angle, the insect race battlefield could be called a high-risk world, but for Su Xiao, this world didn't seem that dangerous.
Back on the Primordial Continent, after Su Xiao used the insect race to crush all enemies, he was restricted to a certain extent in summoning insect races. Actually, this was normal. Currently, Jila was still living it up in the seventh-rank Primordial Continent.
The insect race was a thoroughly warlike race. Apart from the core of the insect race, the Mother Queen, other insect races were born for only two purposes: 1. Kill the enemy, 2. Expand the nest.
The purer something is, the more terrifying it becomes. Of course, this also gives rise to weaknesses. For example, when Jila went to a world with a bizarre system, she didn't perform well. Take the world where the Ancient Gods resided; in such a world, even plant life force and sunlight were depleted. Once the insect race arrived there, they simply couldn't develop.
The Pandora Star they were about to enter was obviously not that kind of place. Needless to say, there were native insect races here.
Su Xiao didn't know what the native insect races were like, but based on his experience, 99% of insect races weren't as ferocious as Jila.
The insect race was also a life form. The evolution of a life form must adapt to the environment, not destroy it.
99% of the insect races Su Xiao knew had this characteristic. Although they were a combat race, their expansion at most caused regional environmental damage. It was like having a total of 10 talent points, with 5 points added to combat, 2 to resource acquisition, and 3 to race continuation.
This was already terrifying enough. Other races, at most, had a 2-3 point tilt towards combat evolution. Most of their "talent points" were added to resource acquisition and development.
Jila was an exception. She put all 10 points into combat, deriving resource plunder and species continuation from that.
The Jila Insect Star was Jila's homeworld, and her name actually came from it. The tragic state of the Jila Insect Star showed the ferocity of Jila's group.
Originally, Jila's characteristics weren't this ferocious. She also had 5 points in combat, 2 in resource acquisition, and 3 in race continuation. Unfortunately, when Jila was still in her larval stage, Su Xiao caught her and reset her points.
It could be said that even among insect races, very few were as extreme as Jila. The current problem was that Pandora Star was an eighth-rank high-risk world, while Jila's rank was at most just over seventh-rank. No matter what, the Primordial Continent was a seventh-rank world. Even if Jila had potential, she would be bound by the world's rules.
There was a way to solve this problem. Su Xiao needed to first understand the situation on Pandora Star before making a decision.
Su Xiao still had a trump card in hand, which was the eight-star War Lord title. Previously, using the War Lord title on the Sun Legion didn't fully unleash the power of this title, but now there was a plan.
It was still too early to consider these things. Su Xiao looked at the countdown; there were 10 seconds left. The teleportation was about to begin.
[Teleportation is about to begin. This is an ultra-long-distance teleportation. The Hunter must be mentally prepared.]
Seeing this prompt, before Su Xiao could prepare, he felt as if he had been hit hard on the back of the head. Then his vision went black, and he lost consciousness.
……
Darkness. Silence. Occasionally, the sound of rising bubbles could be heard.
Su Xiao suddenly opened his eyes and took a deep breath. The half-face oxygen mask he wore made a hissing sound. In the built-in solution of the "EP-87 Type Slow-Motion Exoskeleton," a large number of bubbles surged with his breathing.
The "EP-87 Type Slow-Motion Exoskeleton" was a single-purpose exoskeleton. Its defense level reached Grade III. The interior of the armor was filled with solution. Without wearing a breathing mask, one would drown in this enclosed environment within a short time.
The "EP-87 Type Slow-Motion Exoskeleton" was mainly used to detain dangerous criminals of Level 3 and above. Due to the Empire's abolition of the death penalty 37 years ago, which deemed the life of every Owa person as the highest legal constant, the application of the "EP-87 Type Slow-Motion Exoskeleton" became more widespread.
Although Su Xiao's identity was that of an Old Citizen, not an Owa person, and this place was not "Oka Star" but "Pandora Star," the subordinate authority of the Empire still could not sentence him to death. Instead, they planned to send him to a laboratory as a test subject.
Su Xiao's gaze passed through the viewing port in front of him, observing the surrounding situation. This was a clean and tidy metal room, about 40 square meters. The "EP-87 Type Slow-Motion Exoskeleton" he was in was located in the center of the room. The surrounding floor and walls were empty. Beside the hydraulic door in front stood two guards wearing light individual combat armor and holding heavy energy rifles.
Both of them were staring intently at him. One of them had a mechanical eye implanted in his right eye, capable of capturing micron-level details.
Although Su Xiao didn't yet know the situation in this world, this opening scene felt "familiar" to him. Another prison opening.
This made Su Xiao wonder if his frequent prison openings weren't due to bad luck, but because of his negative charm attribute. Previously, when he obtained a high-status identity through the "Sky-Sweeping Tide" title, he still had a prison opening, only it became a prison opening for a big shot.
Su Xiao felt the binding force of the "EP-87 Type Slow-Motion Exoskeleton." As expected of a high-risk eighth-rank world, the alloy used in this exoskeleton was extremely sturdy. Even for Su Xiao, without using his blade, it would be impossible to break free.
Others might be troubled by this situation, but Su Xiao didn't care at all. He had experienced similar situations too many times and was well-versed in them. He only needed to wait for the world introduction to appear, roughly understand the situation in this world, and then start his prison break.
[Prompt: Because you entered this world by consuming "Nightmare's Beginning," you have obtained a debuff identity: Empire Third-Class Heavy Criminal.]
[Entering World: Pandora Star (Insect Race Battlefield).]
World Difficulty: Lv.54 ~ Lv.81.
World Source: 0%.
World Introduction: Yes, the place you have come to is a purgatory at war.
[Technology, space battleships, planetary colonization. On the distant "Oka Star," technology advanced rapidly, but this progress caused unbearable damage to "Oka Star." The planet's resources began to deplete, the environment deteriorated, and the life of the human race did not improve due to technology but instead headed towards extinction.]
[Year 3152 AD: The last First Citizen on "Oka Star," a pure-blooded human, died on the hospital bed of Laboratory 9256. He was surrounded by Owa people. These new humans, evolved due to environmental changes, had evolved respiratory systems, corneal structures, and skin that could resist radiation. The Owa people called themselves the New Humans, the new masters of "Oka Star."]
[Year 3160 AD: The Owa people established a new civilization based on the First Citizens and formed the highest authority, the Empire.]
[The Empire is supreme. All who disobey will be annihilated under the ship's cannons.]
[Year 3207 AD: After decades of effort, the Empire's forces finally restored the environment of the home planet, Oka Star, to the level of the First Citizen era. There were clear seasons, the sky could finally be seen as blue, and radiation no longer appeared.]
[But no matter how much they tried to remedy the situation, they could not save "Oka Star" from its increasingly sharpening contradictions. The Empire's monarchy was destined to make class contradictions particularly acute.]
[Year 3217 AD: The conflict between the lower-class people and the rulers reached a point where it was almost impossible to reconcile. It was not due to the inaction of the rulers, but the scarcity of resources made it impossible to ensure that every citizen received a fair return for their labor. In response, three consecutive monarchs of the Empire abdicated and apologized to quell public anger, but this was only a temporary measure. Resources were the root of the problem.]
[Year 3229 AD: The Empire's space fleet finally discovered a planet with life. When the fleet landed, they found nearly 3 billion humanoid beings on that planet and named it "Lucky Star." Although the name wasn't great, for the Empire, this biological planet could indeed bring them good luck. It had resources, enough to support all citizens on "Oka Star."]
[War broke out, but it was a war of old-fashioned gunpowder weapons against energy weapons, steel chariots against flying ships. On Lucky Star, the natives hadn't even developed airplanes or tanks before they were at war with the Empire, which had reached the era of energy weapons.]
[The war lasted for 2 months. Over 75% of the natives on "Lucky Star" were slaughtered. The surviving natives were classified as Owa people, but only as second-class citizens. They were only allowed to work on "Lucky Star" and were not permitted to go to the home planet, Oka Star.]
[The natives on Lucky Star always believed that Oka Star was heaven, but they didn't know that it became heaven by sucking their 'blood'.]
[The Empire officially rose.]
[Lucky Star was subjected to colonial rule, but various forces sprouted here. They all disguised themselves as companies, facilitating the Empire's planetary colonization through transportation or contracting. It could be said that the company forces were the Empire's lackeys.]
[Lucky Star was just the beginning. The Empire used the resources obtained from Lucky Star to improve the quality of life for its citizens while continuing to invest resources in the fleet, allowing it to explore further in space and find more biological planets for interstellar colonization.]
[Lucky Star, Gray Hunt Star, ζXV367 Star, Bai Nini Star. The Empire expanded in a bloody manner. The Empire's ambition was to create a planet-destroying weapon to ensure its absolute dominance. However, for some reason, the development of this technology was stuck for many years, as if the consciousness of this star river forbade the appearance of such a weapon.]
[Year 3529 AD: At the coordinates T2-es519-d5246-rs77 in the Hunter Cross Constellation, the Empire's 12th Fleet discovered a biological planet. The survey ship detected a strong biological reaction on this planet, 9,682 trillion times that of Lucky Star.]
[Upon hearing this news, the Empire's high-ranking officials on the home planet were greatly shocked. How many creatures would it take to produce such a biological reaction? Could it be that there was some terrifying existence on this unknown planet? Something like an ancient giant beast?]
[The Empire assembled the 2nd to 18th Fleets, equipped with various strategic weapons, and sent the 5th Fleet, known as the daredevil vanguard, to take the lead and land on this unknown planet.]
[After breaking through the atmosphere, the 5th Fleet sent back a message. They had detected images of the enemy. The highest commanders on the main ship were on high alert, and then they saw a 3D projection of over a dozen primitive people holding wooden spears. Two of the primitive people were even engaged in vigorous interaction for reproduction. At that time, the main ship's combat meeting room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Several generals stood dumbfounded.]
[This incident made the headlines of the Empire Daily on the home planet that same day. The dumbfounded faces of the generals even made the front page. The citizens were both angry and amused. As taxpayers, the Empire was using their taxes to fight a war, and this was the result.]
[That day, the unknown planet was named "Pandora Star," meaning that, like Pandora's Box, no one knew what was inside until it was opened.]
[The next day, Pandora Star once again occupied the headlines of the home planet's newspapers and news. The 3rd Fleet, stationed there, discovered a type of ore during mineral exploration. This ore contained life-characteristic energy and had unimaginable stability and versatility. Further exploration revealed that this ore vein appeared due to Pandora Star's unique core.]
[This discovery also meant one thing: Pandora Star was the most valuable planet the Empire had ever discovered. A fist-sized piece of "Life Ore" mined from Pandora Star could be sold for at least 7.5 to 8 million Nilang (1 Nilang ≈ 2.17 RMB) when transported back to the home planet.]
[Even if large-scale mining of Life Ore caused its price to drop, as a clean, efficient, and versatile energy source, various departments of the Empire were almost celebrating. Everyone knew that a great change was coming. The 3rd Fleet, which was originally doing hard labor, saw its status rise overnight.]
[The 3rd Fleet flatly refused other fleets to station on Pandora Star. Other fleets of the Empire, constrained by the constitution, dared not arbitrarily station on "Pandora Star." The Empire's high-ranking officials didn't care which fleet was responsible for guarding "Pandora Star," as they were all combat units belonging to the Empire. What they wanted to see was a steady stream of fully loaded transport ships returning to the home planet.]
[Year 3530 AD: Just as the Empire and the company forces were celebrating the discovery of Pandora Star, the true ruler of this planet awakened. They were the insect race, sleeping deep underground.]
[Year 3530 AD: War broke out between the Empire's 3rd Fleet and the insect race. Due to the absence of a Dominator in the insect race camp, only Mother Queen-level insect race leaders existed, mostly fighting independently. Nests of different lineages at most did not attack each other. There was very little cooperation between insect race Mother Queens.]
[The Empire's 3rd Fleet was not afraid of the native insect race's attacks. This was a colonial-level war fleet. At this stage, the two sides each occupied half of Pandora Star's territory, engaged in a brutal war.]
World Races: Owa People (Empire First-Class Citizens).
Empire Camp: The strongest camp among the three camps in this world. The core high-ranking officials are all on the home planet (Oka Star). The Empire has many colonial planets under its command.
Company Camp: Company personnel are mostly Empire second-class citizens (natives of the colonial planets).
Insect Race Camp: The original dominant force of this world. Currently at war with the Empire's 3rd Fleet.
Prompt: Because the Hunter entered this world with the identity of "Empire Third-Class Heavy Criminal," you cannot join the Empire Camp. You can join the Insect Race Camp, or join the Company Camp in a covert manner.
[World, Start.]
……
Su Xiao closed the world introduction. This introduction was quite long. He estimated that the situation on the home planet and the dozen or so colonial planets was not important. He probably wouldn't go there. The situation on Pandora Star, where he currently was, was the core of this world. All the keys were concentrated here.
The main point of conflict between the Empire and the insect race was the "Life Ore" on this planet. The Empire needed it as a high-grade energy source.
If Su Xiao's guess was correct, the insect race could absorb the inert life force within this ore and convert it into active life force. The nest could then use this as a foundation to cultivate insect race units.
This conflict was irreconcilable. Su Xiao naturally couldn't join the Empire Camp. As for the Company Camp, this camp was very peculiar. It was both under the Empire's control and had its own independent constitution. After all, prolonged colonization led to assimilation.
Faced with this assimilated group, even the Empire wouldn't be too harsh. Moreover, since the power core wasn't on a single planet, they naturally gave the Company Camp a certain degree of self-governance.
This also led to the Company having 14 sets of constitutions, with various matryoshka doll incidents occurring endlessly. One of the most classic and absurd constitutional cases came from Lucky Star.
There was a bachelor under 50 years old. Because he was extremely ugly, talentless, and penniless, with a shady past when he was young, he naturally couldn't find a wife. To make a living, he had to do what others were unwilling to do: watch the morgue.
On a dark and windy night, this bachelor laid his hands on a beautiful female corpse. In the middle of it, the female corpse, who was in a state of suspended animation, suddenly came back to life due to the stimulation. The bachelor was almost scared limp.
Such an act of desecrating a corpse should have been severely punished. However, a judge on Lucky Star ultimately sentenced the bachelor for the crime of illegal medical practice. Please don't laugh; this verdict actually took effect.
With such fancy matryoshka doll constitutions, one can imagine how chaotic the Company Camp was.
Didn't the Empire care? No, the Empire did it on purpose. If the Company Camp truly united, the Empire wouldn't be able to sleep at night. The more chaotic it was there, the more at ease the Empire felt. No matter how absurd the incident, it was far better than having a rebellion on a colonial planet.
Forget about the Company's structure. The current situation was that the insect race and the 3rd Fleet were locked in a fierce battle, while the Company Camp cheered from the sidelines.
After understanding this, Su Xiao sensed the locations of Bubu, Amu, Baha, and Beini. They were all quite far away and were moving, indicating that the four of them didn't have a prison opening.
Gurgle, gurgle~
Bubbles rose from the solution inside the "EP-87 Type Slow-Motion Exoskeleton." Just as Su Xiao was about to start his prison break, a prompt appeared.
[Prompt: Your main quest has been activated.]
[Main Quest: Germination (First Ring)]
Difficulty Level: Lv.78
Quest Brief: Find an insect race mother body embryo and establish a nest of initial scale.
Quest Time Limit: 3 natural days.
Quest Reward: Insect Race Gene Fragment: Exoskeleton Reinforcement
Prompt: This reward is only usable after cultivating the insect race mother body and establishing the nest.
Quest Punishment: Forced Execution.
……
Seeing this main quest, Su Xiao understood the general situation of this world. It was conceivable that there would be other contractors developing insect race forces within this world. Then, it wouldn't be a fight between individuals, but a war between them.
From the world introduction, Su Xiao felt that the insect race in this world was just okay. They were a combat race, but not a war race. They were far less ferocious than Jila.
Thinking about it, Jila's development method wasn't a natural evolution at all.
Otherwise, how could the Jila Insect Star have been ruined by Jila? The Primordial Continent wasn't doing well either. Su Xiao had received warnings from the Void Tree more than once, telling him to quickly take Jila away. In response, Su Xiao pretended not to see it. He didn't care about losing reputation points either. His Void Tree reputation had long been negative.
The most critical thing now wasn't summoning Jila, but first getting an insect race mother body embryo. Su Xiao wasn't planning to cultivate a new insect race mother body.
Jila's group characteristics were too ferocious. If he didn't create a "disguise," something might go wrong.
Su Xiao's idea was to get an insect race mother body embryo and use it to arrange a "legal disguise" for Jila, making Jila's identity "legal" after being summoned to this world, at least not being rejected by the world.
Su Xiao opened the world contact platform and took a casual look. He saw an acquaintance, the anonymous person from the previous world, Lu Ge.
Given Lu Ge's strength, it wasn't surprising that he could enter this world. In fact, as long as one wasn't targeted by the Empire, the lower and upper limits of danger in this world were quite high. Any eighth-rank contractor could come here; it was just that the initial camp and situation would be vastly different.
Su Xiao not only saw Lu Ge posting on the world contact platform but also saw him showing off an "Insect Race Mother Body Embryo." This acquisition speed was too fast. Lu Ge probably had this item before entering this world, or rather, he entered this world because of it.
Lu Ge was looking for someone to cooperate with, to jointly cultivate an insect race mother body and nest. The subsequent profits would be divided according to the initial investment.
Besides Lu Ge, Su Xiao also met a second acquaintance, the Necromancer Girl.
The Necromancer Girl's code name was Necromancer Girl. After she spoke, the world contact platform was filled with wails.
That wasn't the end. When Necromancer Girl said that Black Demon was also in this world, the mentality of many contractors began to collapse.
Did they think that was it? No, when Shenfu spoke, intending to cooperate with Lu Ge, Lu Ge almost shed tears of 'joy'.
Necromancer Girl, Black Demon, and Beheaded Night. These three were known as cancerous figures in war-type worlds. Two of them had shown up. Lu Ge's thought at the moment was, if Beheaded Night also came, he, Lu Ge, would immediately go hang himself.
Of course, although his mentality had drastically changed, Lu Ge wasn't really going to hang himself. Lu Ge suddenly felt that the current insect race war seemed no less than the World of Paintings. No, in some ways, it was even more terrifying. Here, there were old yinbis, necromancers, the BUG-like existence of Black Demon, and the powerful native force of the Empire.
Su Xiao closed the world contact platform. He had guessed earlier that Shenfu wasn't dead. Now it seemed he wasn't only not dead, but they had met. Last time, the other party gave him the "Necronomicon." This time, he had to properly entertain him.
However, one thing was that in this world, as long as one obtained an "Insect Race Mother Body Embryo," they could probably develop insect races. Given Shenfu's level of old yinbi, he had to be wary of the other party developing. He also had to keep an eye on Black Demon and Necromancer Girl. Whether Black Demon still recognized him now was completely unknown. The other party's situation was too special.
Su Xiao's advantage in this world was that as long as he summoned Jila and had her advance to the eighth rank, the insect race developed by Jila would be ferocious enough to shock other insect races and the Empire.
It was still too early to consider these things. First, he had to escape from prison.
In the empty metal room, the "EP-87 Type Slow-Motion Exoskeleton" was in the very center. Inside the armor, Su Xiao closed his eyes, and his head gradually drooped.
Beep, beep, beep!!
A rapid electronic sound came out. The two guards in front of the hydraulic door were startled. They looked at each other, then raised their heavy magnetic rifles, quickly charging them while aiming at Su Xiao.
Beep... beep~
The electronic sound slowed down. The values on the "EP-87 Type Slow-Motion Exoskeleton" representing Su Xiao's heartbeat and life fluctuations rapidly decreased, eventually becoming a straight line.
Both guards were a bit dumbfounded. The heavy criminal they were guarding had actually died like this?
"What do we do?"
"Wait a few minutes to observe, in case he's faking death."
"His life wavelength has stopped. Does that still count as faking death?"
"Never mind that. Wait a few minutes."
The middle-aged guard held his rifle and waited in place for a few minutes. After confirming there were no other abnormalities, he pressed the assistance device on his arm armor.
A few minutes later, over a dozen fully armed guards walked in, along with two medical personnel. There was a female doctor around 30 years old and her male assistant.
"He's completely dead. Open it up."
The female doctor spoke. In her opinion, using this thing to detain prisoners was too inhumane.
"Step back. You, you, and you, step outside. Xiao Ya, go control the magnetic rail cannon. If anything is wrong, blast Kukulin Bai Ye's corpse to pieces."
"Yes."
The guard called Xiao Ya ran out to the metal corridor outside, set up the magnetic rail cannon, and aimed it at the "EP-87 Type Slow-Motion Exoskeleton."
Pfft~
A small amount of steam sprayed out. The "EP-87 Type Slow-Motion Exoskeleton" opened. The water liquid inside drained away through the floor drain. Su Xiao, with several shackles on each arm, hung his head. Water droplets dripped from the ends of his hair. He was motionless, as if dead.
Click, click...
One by one, the shackles were opened. When the last shackle sprang open, Su Xiao suddenly opened his eyes.
Thump, thump~
Su Xiao's heart resumed beating.
One minute later, Su Xiao, bare-chested, held the Dragon-Slaying Flash. Not far away, inside the diagonally cut magnetic rail cannon, pungent plasma solution flowed out. On the ground around Su Xiao were the chopped-up remains of guards, blood splattered everywhere.
The guard squad leader sat slumped in a corner, both hands covering his bleeding throat. The urgent alarm was exceptionally piercing.
Su Xiao flicked the blood off his blade, crouched down, and looked at the female doctor and her assistant, who were sitting on the ground in fright. He asked, "Where's the exit?"
……
At the same time, 80 kilometers away, inside an underground laboratory, three sneaky figures were hiding behind an experimental table. They had secretly infiltrated this place. Well, if you ignored the line of guards they had knocked out behind them, they had indeed succeeded in infiltrating.
"Is that the 'Insect Race Mother Body Embryo'? After getting this thing, Moon Apostle, don't disappoint us two."
Mo Lei spoke solemnly.
"I am a summoning type. I have all the titles, equipment, and abilities for the army stream. With the same number of combat units, who can be the opponent of a summoning type?"
Moon Apostle was very confident. Her title of Team Battle Illusion God was not for nothing. Of course, this was only after she could develop.
"I'll trust you this once."
Hao Mei spoke, then tilted her head back and chugged a few big gulps of alcohol.
That's right, it was the Apocalypse Sisters. At this moment, the Apocalypse Sisters had a one-on-one fighter (Hao Mei), financial resources (Mo Lei), and team battle capability (Moon Apostle). This gave the three of them a feeling that in this world, they were about to completely turn their fortunes around.
The three of them hadn't met by chance; they had formed a team. At this moment, the three of them had inexplicably confident smiles on their faces. They seemed to already see the scene of commanding the insect race to be invincible.
PS: (Continue flipping to view the bonus exhibition, content is a 'commemorative photo' of Su Xiao and Mo Lei.)